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O.B.L. Kapoor
The Philosophy and Religion of Sri Caitanya : The Philosophical Background of Hare Krishna Movement
MRML, New Delhi, 1993 {New Book} , pp. 260, Illus., Size 25cm
This is a comprehensive, critical and comparative study of all aspects of the philosophy and religion of Sri Caitanya. In the first three chapters the history of the Vaisnava religion is traced from the earliest Vedic period to pre-Caitanya Vaisnavism in Bengal and some controversies regarding the life of Sri Caitanya and the Sampradaya or the sect to which he belongs are set at rest. In the succeeding chapters the problems of philosophy and religion are discussed in detail.

Brooks, Charles R, Illustrated by Charles R Brooks
THE HARE KRISHNAS IN INDIA
Illustrated with black and white drawings. With appendices, glossary, references and index. Most Americans know about the “Hare Krishnas” only from encounters in airports or from tales of their activities in the East Village and Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s. This entertaining and sensitive book deepens our knowledge by tracing the paths of those Western Hare Krishnas who eventually traveled to or lived in India. The charasmatic leader of the sect, the Indian monk Swami Bhaktivedanta, aimed to save Westerners from what he saw as materialism and atheism by converting them to worship of the Hindu god Krishna. In addition, he hoped that Western disciples would inspire Indians to rediscover their own religous heritage. Charles Brooks describes in full detail the work of the “reverse missionaries” in the town of Vrindabn – which, since it is traditionally considered to be identical with Krishna’s spiritual world, is one of the holiest places in India and the site of some of its most engaging rituals. Have the Western Hare Krishnas really become part of Indian culture? Can it be that Indians accept these foreigners as essentially Hindu and even Brahman? Brooks answers in a way that radically challenges our accepted images of Indian social dynamics. Analyzing the remarkable success of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and their temple complex in Vrindaban (where Bhaktivedanta was buried in 1977), Brooks describes the intricate social, economic, and religous relationships between Westerners and Indians. He demonstrates that social rank in the town is based not only on caste but also on religous competence: many Indians of Vrindaban believe, in Bhaktivedanta’s words, that “Krishna is for all.”
ISBN: 8120809394; other editions: 0691031355